Olympic athletes led by school board member

8/24/04 -- As the U.S. women's track and field team vies for Olympic gold in Athens, the team manager helping them succeed is a school board member -- Stephanie Hightower, president of the Columbus, Ohio, board of education.

After leading this year's women's track and field team during the Olympic trials in Sacramento, Calif., in mid-July, Hightower came back to Columbus to lead the school board as it placed an operating levy on the fall ballot. She then headed to Greece to help set up the team's facilities in the Olympic Village in Athens and a training center on the island of Crete.

Hightower is a four-time U.S. hurdles champion and was a member of the 1980 and 1984 Olympic teams.

Since 2000, she has been the women's committee chairperson for the USA Track and Field Federation and in 1999 was head manager of the world championship team in Seville, Spain.

A longtime community activist in Columbus, Hightower helped create a Midnight Basketball League for young men. While working as special assistant to the mayor and assistant for sports development, she organized a program to provide needy children with free tickets to sports and cultural events.

Hightower was recently named vice president for external relations at the Columbus College of Art & Design.